Shropshire school children take more school meals

An increase in the number of primary school children taking school meals has been welcomed by Shropshire Council.

The council said an extra 500 meals have been sold compared last year.

The number of free school meals rose by 1,000 over the past five years.

Councillor Cecilia Motley said its school meals were provided "from traditional kitchens without the use of mass production or re-heating processes, and sources its ingredients as locally as possible".

The council believes the rising number of school meals is due to the quality of the food, promotional menus and enthusiastic staff.

The school meals service serves around 25,000 meals per day, to 144 primary schools, 16 secondary schools and three sixth form colleges in Shropshire.